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Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a dinner at Gracie Mansion in celebration of Ramadan. We’ve included a transcript and video of his dinner speech:

â€œWell, good evening, and Ramadan Kareem, and I want to welcome everyone to our annual Ramadan Iftar at Gracie Mansion.
â€œWe call this â€˜The Peopleâ€™s House,â€™ because it belongs to all 8.4 million New Yorkers who call this city home. And people of every race and religion, every background and belief. And we celebrate that diversity here in this house with gatherings like this one.

â€œAnd for me, whether itâ€™s marking St. Patrickâ€™s Day or Harlem Week or any other occasion, these gatherings are always a powerful reminder of what makes our city so strong and our country so great.
â€œYou know, America is a nation of immigrants, and I think itâ€™s fair to say no place opens its doors more widely to the world than New York City. America is the land of opportunity, and I think itâ€™s fair to say no place offers its residents more opportunity to pursue their dreams than New York City. And America is a beacon of freedom, and I think itâ€™s fair to say no place defends those freedoms more fervently, or has been attacked for those freedoms more ferociously, than New York City.

â€œIn recent weeks, a debate has arisen that I believe cuts to the core of who we are as a city and a country. The proposal to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan has created a national conversation on religion in America, and since Ramadan offers a time for reflection, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on that very subject.

â€œThere are people of good will on both sides of the debate, and I would hope that everyone can carry on a dialogue in a civil and respectful way. In fact, I think most people now agree on two fundamental issues: First, that Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque in Lower Manhattan and second, that the site of the World Trade Center is hallowed ground. And the only question we face is: how do we honor that hallowed ground?
â€œThe wounds of 9/11 are still very much with us. And I know that is true for Talat Hamdani, who is here with us tonight, and who lost her son, Salman Hamdani, on 9/11. There will always be a hole in our hearts for the men and women who perished that day.

â€œAfter the attacks, some argued â€“ including some of those who lost loved ones â€“ that the entire site should be reserved for a memorial. But we decided â€“ together, as a city â€“ that the best way to honor all those we lost, and to repudiate our enemies, was to build a moving memorial and to rebuild the site.

â€œWe wanted the site to be an inspiring reminder to the world that this city will never forget our dead and never stop living. We vowed to bring Lower Manhattan back â€“ stronger than ever â€“ as a symbol of our defiance and I think itâ€™s fair to say we have. Today, it is more of a community neighborhood than ever before, with more people than ever living, working, playing and praying there.

â€œBut if we say that a mosque or a community center should not be built near the perimeter of the World Trade Center site, we would compromise our commitment to fighting terror with freedom.

â€œWe would undercut the values and principles that so many heroes died protecting. We would feed the false impressions that some Americans have about Muslims. We would send a signal around the world that Muslim Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen. And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters, who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam.
â€œIslam did not attack the World Trade Center â€“ Al-Qaeda did. To implicate all of Islam for the actions of a few who twisted a great religion is unfair and un-American. Today we are not at war with Islam â€“ we are at war with Al-Qaeda and other extremists who hate freedom.

â€œAt this very moment, there are young Americans â€“ some of them Muslims â€“ standing freedomsâ€™ watch in Iraq and Afghanistan, and around the world. A couple here tonight, Sakibeh and Asaad Mustafa, have children who have served our country overseas and after 9/11, one of them aided in the recovery efforts at Ground Zero. And Iâ€™d like to ask them to stand, so we can show our appreciation. There you go. Thank you.

â€œThe members of our military are men and women at arms â€“ battling for hearts and minds. And their greatest weapon in that fight is the strength of our American values, which have already inspired people around the world. If we do not practice here at home what we preach abroad â€“ if we do not lead by example â€“ we undermine our soldiers. We undermine our foreign policy objectives. And we undermine our national security.

â€œIn a different era, with different international challenges facing the country, President Kennedyâ€™s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, explained to Congress why it is so important for us to live up to our ideals here at home. Dean Rusk said, â€˜The United States is widely regarded as the home of democracy and the leader of the struggle for freedom, for human rights, for human dignity. We are expected to be the model.â€™
â€œWe are expected to be the model. Nearly a half-century later, his words remain true. In battling our enemies, we cannot rely entirely on the courage of our soldiers or the competence of our diplomats. We all have to do our part.

â€œJust as we fought communism by showing the world the power of free markets and free elections, so must we fight terrorism by showing the world the power of religious freedom and cultural tolerance. Freedom and tolerance will always defeat tyranny and terrorism â€“ and thatâ€™s the great lesson of the 20th century, and we must not abandon it here in the 21st.
â€œNow I understand the impulse to find another location for the mosque and community center. I understand the pain of those who are motivated by loss too terrible to contemplate. And there are people of every faith â€“ including, perhaps, some in this room â€“ who are hoping that a compromise will end the debate.

â€œBut it wonâ€™t. The question will then become, how big should the â€˜no-mosque zoneâ€™ be around the World Trade Center site? There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it be moved?

â€œThis is a test of our commitment to American values. We have to have the courage of our convictions. We must do what is right, not what is easy. And we must put our faith in the freedoms that have sustained our great country for more than 200 years.

â€œNow, I know that many in this room are disturbed and dispirited by the debate. But itâ€™s worth keeping some perspective on the matter. The first colonial settlers came to these shores seeking religious liberty and the founding fathers wrote a constitution that guaranteed it. They made sure that in this country government would not be permitted to choose between religions or favor one over another.

â€œNonetheless, it was not so long ago that Jews and Catholics had to overcome stereotypes and build bridges to those who viewed them with suspicion and less than fully American. In 1960, many Americans feared that John F. Kennedy would impose papal law on America. But through his example, he taught us that piety to a minority religion is no obstacle to patriotism. It is a lesson I think that needs updating today, and it is our responsibility to accept the challenge.

â€œBefore closing, let me just add one final thought: Imam Rauf, who is now overseas promoting America and American values, has been put under a media microscope. Each of us may strongly agree or strongly disagree with particular statements that he has made. And thatâ€™s how it should be â€“ this is New York City.

â€œAnd while a few of his statements have received a lot of attention, I would like to read you something that he said that you may not have heard. At an interfaith memorial service for the martyred journalist Daniel Pearl, Imam Rauf said, quote, â€˜If to be a Jew means to say with all one’s heart, mind, and soul: Shma` Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad; Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one.â€™

He then continued to say, â€˜If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one.â€™

â€œIn that spirit, let me declare that we in New York are Jews and Christians and Muslims, and we always have been. And above all of that, we are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose. There is nowhere in the five boroughs of New York City that is off limits to any religion.

â€œBy affirming that basic idea, we will honor Americaâ€™s values and we will keep New York the most open, diverse, tolerant, and free city in the world. Thank you and enjoy.â€

September 11th marked the line between a United States before and after terrorism. In New York City it also marked the changing of the guard between two mayors. Both of their legacies rely upon the memory of the World Trade Center’s reconstruction. Who would have guessed that an addition of a mosque at Ground Zero would serve as the dividing line between the two mayors.

On one side, Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a born and raised New Yorker, saw through New York’s change under his administration and after September 11th became “The America’s Mayor” for his poise during the terrorist attacks on New York.

On the other side, Michael Bloomberg, who upon his election as Mayor inherited the post traumatic New York environment, only three months after the attack. Bloomberg has been guiding the city for almost a decade after the attack.

Although both men have made major strides in what is arguably one of the toughest cities to run in the country — it’s interesting to note their divergent opinions sharing only one element — their vehement beliefs in their stance.

Guiliani’s Statement:

â€œItÂ sends a particularly bad message, particularly (because) of the background of the imam who is supporting this. This is an Imam who has supported radical causes, who has not been forthright in condemning IslamicÂ (terrorism) and the worst instincts that that brings about.
â€œSo it not only is exactly the wrong place, right at ground zero, but itâ€™s a mosque supported by an imam who has a record of support for causes that were sympathetic with terrorism. Come on! Weâ€™re gonna allow that at ground zero?

â€œThis is a desecration,â€ he added. â€œNobody would allow something like that at Pearl Harbor. Letâ€™s have some respect for who died there and why they died there. Letâ€™s not put this off on some kind of politically correct theory.
â€œI mean, they died there because of Islamic extremist terrorism. They are our enemy, we can say that, the world will not end when we say that. And the reality is, it will not and should not insult any decent Muslim because decent Muslims should be as opposed to Islamic extremism as you andÂ I are.â€

In response to all the opposition the building of the Park51 mosque has received, Bloomberg re-iterates the constitutional right for freedom of religion as the basis of his opinion.

Bloomberg’s Statement:

â€œThe World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves â€“ and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans â€“ if we said â€˜noâ€™ to a mosque in Lower Manhattan. â€œLet us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans.

We would betray our values â€“ and play into our enemiesâ€™ hands â€“ if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists â€“ and we should not stand for that.

â€œFor that reason, I believe that this is an important test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetime â€“ as important a test â€“ and it is critically important that we get it right…

â€œPolitical controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure â€“ and there is no neighborhood in this City that is off limits to Godâ€™s love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us today can attest.â€